Tracked vehicles, such as earth movers, construction machinery, all terrain vehicles, and snowmobiles, are adapted to travel over rough and unstable terrain without becoming trapped or bogged down, but they are legally forbidden from most paved highways. Tracked vehicles tend to damage pavement, and many of these vehicles cannot travel at minimum highway speeds. For these reasons, tracked vehicles are usually transported to and from their sites of use on trailers. Typically, the tracked vehicle is carried on a tractor-towed flatbed trailer, or on a flatbed integrated into a truck body.
The transport of tracked vehicles on towed trailers or flatbed trucks is an extremely inefficient and wasteful transport system. The transport vehicle duplicates many of the costly systems of the tracked vehicle, particularly the power plant, and a fully equipped cab for a driver. The transport vehicle must carry its own fuel supply, and fuel consumption is increased by the fact that the tractor must propel its own weight. When the tracked vehicle requires specialized operating skills, its crew must also be accommodated either in the transport vehicle or in a separate convoyed vehicle. There is a need for a system and method for transporting a tracked vehicle that does not require a separate self-sufficient carrier vehicle.